HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares were almost flat in both local markets on Thursday as energy firms, banks and other leading companies suffered from investor profit-hunting.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange closed down 0.03 per cent at 760.57 points, reversing from a three-day rally of 1.5 per cent.

The HNX-Index on the Hà Nội Stock Exchange inched down 0.11 per cent to end at 97.78 points. The northern market index retreated from a two-day increase of 1.1 per cent.

Nearly 240 million shares were traded on both bourses, worth VNĐ4.57 trillion (US$203.2 million) – a daily drop of 7.5 per cent in volume and 7.2 per cent in value.

The stock market was driven down as shares of FLC Faros Construction (ROS), top lenders like Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Sacombank (STB) and BIDV (BID), and brokerage firms were hit by profit-taking.

ROS suffered from a daily decline limit of 7 per cent, extending its decline to a total 14 per cent for a second day.

Bank stocks like ACB, STB and BID stepped back after having risen in the previous two and three sessions, falling between 1 and 1.8 per cent.

The largest brokerages, such as Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI) and VNDirect Securities (VND), ended on negative notes while others, such as Bảo Việt Securities (BVS) and MB Securities (MBS), remained unchanged.

In addition, energy stocks were brought down by a steep fall of oil prices after the US Federal Reserve raised its interest rates for the second time in 2017, by 0.25 percentage points, to an annual 1-1.25 per cent. The US central bank is expected to make one more rate hike in September.

According to analysts and brokerage companies, the latest rate increase does not pose any risk to the domestic stock market as investors have prepared for it. Analysts also said foreign investment in Việt Nam’s securities market will not be affected by the US rate hike.

Foreign investors posted a net buy value of VNĐ270 billion on Thursday, the same as on Wednesday and a big raise compared to an average VNĐ35-40 billion in each of the three sessions before Wednesday.

Bùi Nguyên Khoa at BIDV Securities Corp (BSC) said the US rate hike was not the reason for the stock decline. It is simply a matter of investors seeking to cash in on their investments, he said. — VNS